Entropy Technologies LP Grows Stock Holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC)

Entropy Technologies LP raised its position in shares of The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC - Free Report) by 134.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,312 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,112 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP's holdings in Toro were worth $2,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Toro by 1,395.2% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 35,376 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 33,010 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Toro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,779,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Toro by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of Toro by 35.5% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 4,330 shares of the company's stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 1,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Toro by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 10,052 shares of the company's stock worth $805,000 after buying an additional 2,664 shares during the period. 87.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Toro Price Performance

NYSE:TTC traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $79.27. 1,041,569 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 769,281. The Toro Company has a 12-month low of $76.95 and a 12-month high of $100.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a PE ratio of 19.77 and a beta of 0.72. The business's 50-day moving average price is $82.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.90.

Toro (NYSE:TTC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.95. Toro had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 9.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that The Toro Company will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toro Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Toro's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Toro's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.91%.

Toro declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James dropped their target price on Toro from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Toro presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.75.

Toro Company Profile

The Toro Company designs, manufactures, markets, and sells professional turf maintenance equipment and services. It operates through two segments: Professional and Residential. The Professional segment offers turf and landscape equipment products, including sports fields and grounds mowing and maintenance equipment, golf course mowing and maintenance equipment, landscape contractor mowing equipment, landscape creation and renovation equipment, and other maintenance equipment; rental, specialty, and underground construction equipment, such as horizontal directional drills, walk and ride trenchers, stand-on skid steers, vacuum excavators, stump grinders, turf renovation products, asset locators, pipe rehabilitation solutions, materials handling equipment, and other after-market tools; and snow and ice management equipment, such as snowplows, as well as stand-on snow and ice removal equipment, such as snowplow, snow brush, and snow thrower attachments, salt and sand spreaders, and related parts and accessories for light and medium duty trucks, utility task vehicles, skid steers, and front-end loaders.